


When You Fell Asleep

by sagscrib



Series: dreamland [2]
Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Dangan Ronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls
Genre: Awkward first dates, Crying, Everyone Is So Proud Of Takemichi, Found Families, Healing, M/M, Memories, Storytelling, Virtual Reality, its a family scavenger hunt and takemichi is winning, so much found family, taichi says takemichi will be in therapy during work hours, takemichi yukimaru is a hopeless romantic and a homosexual
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-16
Updated: 2020-09-16
Packaged: 2021-03-07 18:02:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,088
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26501839
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sagscrib/pseuds/sagscrib
Summary: When Takemichi mentioned making a Daiya AI after his last time in the simulation, he didn't expect Taichi to actually do it. And yet.
Relationships: Kenichirou | Kenshiro/Yukimaru Takemichi
Series: dreamland [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1926724
Comments: 1
Kudos: 9





	When You Fell Asleep

**Author's Note:**

> Title is from Dream by Roar because why not keep that trend going

“Yukimaru!” Takemichi turned at the sound of his name- he was just about to head out on another search and rescue mission, one leg already halfway over his bike.

(He had been eternally grateful for the miracle that was not only finding it, but finding it in  _ working order _ , after leaving Towa. He hadn’t kept his hopes up, but during his first visit back to the Oowada house, there it was, scuffed and a little rusty, but otherwise fine. He hadn’t let it out of his sight for more than a few hours after that.)

Taichi waved his arms as he ran, as though Takemichi could have missed him. When he caught up, it took him a moment to catch his breath before he started speaking.

“You recall the simulation that we put you all in, correct?” he wheezed.

Takemichi nodded- he hadn’t been in again, though he had debated it a few times. Even if he was just zeroes and ones, there was still a latent apprehension in talking to Mondo that kept him away. “What about it?”

“You had mentioned the- the other Oowada brother, Daiya?” Takemichi nodded again. “We thought it might be a good idea to try and program him in, as well. To keep Mondo company, and keep things in order. He’d be something of a second chaperone, alongside Chihiro’s AI.”

Takemichi felt his eyebrows knit together. “Are you askin’ for permission?”

“No, it’s…” Taichi paused. “With the students, we had a decent profile of their personalities and lives that we could study from the recordings of the… Of the incident. But with Daiya…”

Right. With him, they would only have what Mondo said, right before-

He cut off the thought there. Thinking about it still hurt. “So you want me to tell you about him?”

Taichi nodded. “Right. You would take an hour or so out of your work day to talk about Daiya, and then go back to business as usual.” When he continued, his voice was notably softer. “If you don’t feel up to it, I understand, but I wouldn’t ask you if I thought you weren’t capable.”

_ That’s almost an ‘I believe in you’, _ Takemichi mused, sighing inwardly. “Yeah, I’ll do it.” Not like he really had a choice.

Taichi brightened. “Fantastic! I’ll just come get you tomorrow when we’re ready to get started, okay?”

Takemichi nodded before hopping onto his bike, letting the cool wind against his skin keep him grounded.

* * *

Takemichi was beginning to regret his decision. He anxiously tapped his shoe against the metal leg of the chair he sat on, waiting less-than-patiently as Taichi tapped away on his desktop.

“Alright,” he said finally, after what felt like years. “Whenever you’re ready.”

Takemichi frowned. He wasn’t sure exactly where to begin- Daiya had a lot of different aspects to him, many seemingly contradictory. He was a tangled ball of wire of a dozen different colors, and Takemichi had never managed to find the ends.

“Where do ya want me to start?” he asked eventually, after a long, tense silence.

“You could tell me about when you first met him- I assume it would be shortly after you joined his gang?”

Takemichi nodded. “Yeah. Mondo n’ I went to the same middle school. None of the clubs sounded great, but I still didn’t-”

He stopped just short of saying  _ I didn’t want to go home, _ which, while true, was an upsetting thing to admit, and would be more upsetting should Taichi choose to ask follow-up questions.

“I still wanted to hang out,” he finished, after a pause. “I overheard about the gang somewhere- can’t quite remember where- and asked Mondo about it. He said if I could take him in a fight, he’d let me in.”

He felt himself slowly start to relax. “I was a little thing, but I could take a hit just fine. Knew how to defend myself. I beat him- barely- which neither of us expected, I think, but Mondo’s always been a man of his word. He took me to my first meeting a week later, and that’s where I met Daiya.”  
“What was the meeting like?” Taichi asked, tapping away at the keyboard in front of him, rarely looking up.

“Scary, I guess? At the beginning, at least,” Takemichi offered. “A lot of the guys were, y’know, big and intimidating. Seems stupid now, I know none of em would hurt me, but heading in…”

He shook his head. He was getting sidetracked. “Mondo introduced me to Daiya a little after we got there. He was…”

Takemichi fell silent. He was the most frightening of the Diamonds, without a doubt- a behemoth, both in stature and aura. Not the kind of guy you’d want to mess with, and certainly not the guy whose little brother you want to beat up.

“Fuckin’ scary,” he finished. “Thought he was gonna throttle me for messin’ with Mondo, but he just kinda laughed about it and welcomed me to the gang. I trusted those two more than anything pretty quick.” He trailed off at the end, feeling the heaviness of the statement hang in the air, then chuckled softly. “I dunno. Maybe that says more about me than about him.”

Taichi paused, looking up from his monitor. “What do you mean?”

Takemichi shrugged, avoiding looking in the other man’s direction. “I was a lonely kid, lookin’ for a place to call home, and they… were my home, I guess. As close as I got, at least.”

There was a moment of silence as Takemichi stared at the grout between two of the tiles on the floor, chewing on the inside of his cheek. He pretended to check his watch. “Aw, man, gotta go. Don’t wanna be late for lunch, or Takaaki’ll be pissed. See you tomorrow.”

With that, he stood up, chair squeaking against the floor in his haste, and practically dashed out the door. His lunch break wasn’t for another hour at least, which, he realized, Taichi knew, because they ate at the same time. In fact, he had been occasionally eating  _ with them _ for a good while now, hadn’t he? Shit.

Takemichi sighed, deciding to go shoot the breeze with Hiroko for a bit before heading on a routine check of the city. This was almost certainly going to be a rough few weeks.

* * *

“I think it’d be easiest if you just kept telling me stories about him,” Taichi said, and he was probably right. Describing Daiya was an insurmountable task, as far as Takemichi was concerned. “Anything’s fine. I’d like a good mix of memories, so don’t stray away from anything negative. If you’re feeling up to it,” he added. Takemichi nodded.

It was difficult to think of a bad experience with Daiya, but he supposed that was at least partly due to the nostalgia about his dead friend.

“Daiya was a good man,” he said, and he believed it wholeheartedly. “The only bad times I can remember with him were mostly because I was insecure.”

“What do you mean by that?” Taichi asked, looking at Takemichi with earnest.

“I’unno,” Takemichi mumbled, suddenly uncomfortable at being put on the spot. “Doesn’t matter. Like I said, it didn’t have anything to do with him.”

Taichi looked concerned, but didn’t press, which Takemichi was grateful for. “Any story will do, then. Whatever you’d like.”

Takemichi nodded, tugging at the frayed sleeve of his old jacket as he thought. “We used to have huge sleepovers with some of the diamonds,” he decided.

“What were those like?” Taichi prompted.

“Loud. Warm. A lot of us just hangin’ out, goofin’ off. Sometimes we’d put on a movie, sometimes we’d just sit and talk. Daiya was always the stuff that kept us together- doesn’t matter how pissed we were at each other or how sick or tired we were, when he came in, everything felt right. He just had that somethin’ about him.”

He sighed as he listened to Taichi tap away on the keys, letting him catch up before he continued. “They stopped after he died. Mondo barely ever felt up to handlin’ all of them at once, especially outside of meetings. ‘Sides, the place was a mess whenever he didn’t let me clean up.”

“You cleaned the house?”

“Yeah. Still do. Keep it up and running, even if no one lives there anymore. I promised Mondo I’d take care of it while he was away, and he…”

And he’s away forever now. He’s not coming back. They’d never have another sleepover or watch a terrible movie and throw popcorn at the screen or stay on the phone until the early hours of the morning because Takemichi was in a bad spot and Mondo refused to hang up, half out of pride, half out of concern, because he cared about him. Because, like he apparently told Junko in his early days at Hope’s Peak, Takemichi was the most important person in his life.

“Takemichi?” Taichi asked, pulling him from his musings.

“Yeah?” His voice cracked, and he was having trouble breathing around the lump in his throat.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah.”

Taichi gave him a pitying look, and Takemichi almost decked him for it. He didn’t need that. “I’m headin’ out.”

“Alright,” Taichi said slowly. It didn’t matter. Takemichi wasn’t asking for permission.

Takaaki would probably pop a blood vessel if he found out how many traffic laws he broke that afternoon, but Takemichi couldn’t find it in himself to care.

When he got home that night, he managed to rope Takaaki into watching a movie with him, which helped. Takaaki usually knew when something was wrong, but rarely pressed him about it, willing to wait for him to offer up the information on his own. It was how they operated, and it was comfortable, and it was  _ nice _ . And Takemichi probably wouldn’t trade it for the world.

* * *

“Your spikes are longer today,” Taichi commented as Takemichi sat down.

“Huh? Oh, the eyeliner? Yeah, I never had a super steady hand,” he said, gesturing vaguely. “I guess I can make ‘em as long as I want to now, though.”

“You couldn’t before?”

Takemichi shook his head. “Nah. These are a big deal with the diamonds. The leader gets the longest ones, his right hand gets the second longest, and so on. It’s a dick move to try and outshine your superiors, and it’s gotten a few people’s asses kicked before. But since Daiya and Mondo are both gone…” he trailed off.

Taichi nodded. “They sound important.”

Takemichi nodded. “Yeah. I didn’t start doin ‘em myself until after Daiya made me him and Mondo’s bodyguard. Always afraid of steppin’ on someone’s toes.”

“Yeah?” Taichi asked, turning to face his desktop. Looks like that’s the story Takemichi’s telling today- not that he minded. It was one of his favorites.

“It was a few months after I joined. I had been staying at the Oowada place more often- uh, that’s kind of a long story, but before Daiya died I’d sleep over a few times a week, at least- and Mondo was off running some errand for the meeting later that night. It was sometime early in the morning, I think. I mean, not too early. None of us really got up before noon most days. But we’d just had breakfast,” Takemichi explained. He doubted those details mattered, but he liked reliving the moment. ‘Breakfast’ was reheated chicken from dinner last night and coffee. For a moment, Takemichi recalled the warm feeling of home as the pair of them washed the dishes in comfortable silence. With Daiya, quiet, while rare, was just quiet- not an obligation, or something to fill, but something warm to enjoy for a while.

“We had just been hangin’ out, y’know? Then he got up outta nowhere and came back with an eyeliner pen. Asked if I wanted to help him get ready. I told him, sure, why not, which just ended up bein’ us talkin’ shit while he did his makeup. At the end of it, though, he handed me the pen.”

Takemichi fell silent for a moment. He was never quite sure if Daiya knew how much that meant to him- putting him on equal ground with him and Mondo, treating him like one of them. Giving him somewhere to belong for what was probably the first time in his life.

He smiled to himself. “He called it ‘real Oowada shit’. Taught me how to make it look right, how long to make the spikes, the works.”

That day was the first time Takemichi didn’t storm out- in fact, he managed to get two more stories in before deciding to leave.

Maybe that was good- a sign of him finally getting better. He wasn’t sure. Hiroko teased him a little bit at dinner that night about his good mood, but it wasn’t unwelcome.

* * *

“Hey, sorry I’m late,” Takemichi apologized, flopping into his usual chair.

“Don’t worry about it, I wasn’t waiting long,” Taichi smiled. “What held you up?”

“Uh, haha,” he fiddled with his sleeve, “Ran into Kenshiro on the way over and kinda lost track of time.”

“Huh. I never thought he’d be the type for long conversations.”

Takemichi laughed again, a little nervously, feeling his face heat up. He wasn’t sure if Kenshiro enjoyed their talks (and usually suspected that he didn’t, but he realized that was a lot of his own insecurity), but he took great joy in them, for a number of reasons he wasn’t particularly keen on putting into words.

Taichi regarded him a little curiously. “Are you two…?”

His face heated further. “Whuh- n- I mean, no- did Takaaki tell you?” He didn’t expect he did, but how else would Taichi have found out?

“No! No, I just- I’m sorry, I guess that was a bit of an invasive question, but you two seem… close, I suppose.” He seemed just as embarrassed as Takemichi was. “I’ll be honest, it might have been a bit of wishful thinking. I know Kenshiro’s still… feeling pretty strongly about miss Oogami, and it might be good for him to have moved on, at least a little bit.”

Takemichi nodded. “I… we aren’t  _ dating, _ but... y’know. I like him, n’ stuff.” God, he felt like he was a teenager again, talking about his crush. Which he only ever really did with-

“Daiya was the first one I told,” he said, remembering what he came here for. Looks like that was the story he was telling today.

Taichi nodded slowly, then turned to his computer and started to type. “Go on.”

“It was probably a little over a year after I met ‘em. They already knew about my home life ‘n stuff, so there weren’t too many secrets between us.”  
At the mention of his life at home, Taichi shot him a curious look, but, thankfully, didn’t ask. Takemichi disregarded it.

“I didn’t date-” couldn’t, really, too dangerous- “so it was pretty easy to pretend I was straight. We were just sorta goofin’ off, I think we were talkin’ about some movie we had just watched, and I let slip that I thought the lead was nice-lookin’. Tried to backpedal, say I meant the  _ female _ lead. Thing was, there was none.”

He remembered feeling like he was going to die, right then and there. He couldn’t handle the thought of losing the Oowadas- they meant everything to him. Somehow, he never considered that maybe he meant just as much to them, and they would love him not only  _ regardless  _ of his sexuality, but actively treat it like something to be celebrated. He smiled.

“Daiya picked me up and gave me one of those hugs- man, I’m not sure how to describe it, but it kinda made you feel like all the broken bits of you were fixed for a bit- and he told me he was excited to have someone to talk about dudes with. This was… a long time before Mondo met Kiyotaka, so he didn’t know yet, I guess.”

Takemichi fell silent, casting his eyes to the side. Mondo only ever really _ loved _ Kiyotaka. He’d flirted with plenty of girls, but Kiyotaka completed him in ways that no one else could.

That Takemichi couldn’t.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Taichi give him some sort of look, then sigh quietly. “Thanks for telling me, Takemichi. I’ll try and refrain from asking stuff like that in the future. You’re free to go.”

He nodded once, then left. On his way back to the parking lot to hop on his bike, he ran into Kenshiro once again.

“Takemichi,” he greeted, smiling in the kind, soft way he always did. Takemichi tried to return the look, but he had a habit of grinning a little more broadly than he meant to around the taller man.

“I didn’t think I’d be seeing you again today.” He tugged at the cuff of his sleeve.

“Maybe I’m just lucky.”

Takemichi laughed, a little loud, in order to distract from the blush he felt creeping onto his face.

There was a short silence where Takemichi struggled to keep looking at Kenshiro, who smiled down at him.

“Do you want to come over for dinner this Friday?” Takemichi asked, a little louder than he meant to.  _ Of all the things to pick up from Mondo. _

The smile fell from Kenshiro’s face, replaced with a look of surprise (which made Takemichi panic just a little bit), but it quickly returned, wider than before.

“That’d be nice,” he said. If Takemichi wasn’t so cautious about wishful thinking, he’d define the look he got as one of fondness. He tried to swallow the butterflies in his stomach.

“Cool! Cool. That’ll be fun. I gotta, uh, get back to work, but I’ll see you then,” he stammered, now gripping his sleeve tightly. Excitedly.

“I look forward to it.” He nodded once, then continued on his way, still grinning. Takemichi bit back a childish giggle.

He took out his phone and shot a few texts off to Takaaki demanding that he stay with the Hagakures that weekend before half-jogging the rest of the way to the parking lot.

* * *

The giddiness spilled over into the next day. It wasn’t constant, but a couple of times during Takemichi’s morning patrol he would find himself slipping into a goofy smile. He was lucky that his job didn’t require too much concentration- scanning the city streets was almost muscle memory at this point.

He was still grinning as he parked his bike and walked into the Future Foundation. He filled out his report and made his way to the small room that functioned as Taichi’s workspace.

“You look happy,” Taichi commented as he walked in.

“Yeah, I guess so.” Seeing anyone happy nowadays was a feat in and of itself. “Me and Kenshiro are having dinner this friday.”

Taichi’s smile was warm. “That’s good. You said before that you hadn’t dated, right? So this’ll be your first date ever, huh?”

Takemichi started to nod, then stopped. “Uh, not exactly. There was one other time, but I don’t really think that counts.”

Taichi raised an amused eyebrow, silently prompting him to continue.

“I dunno if I ever told you, but I had a fanclub before… all this,” he said, gesturing vaguely to the state of things.

“No, I don’t think you did, that’s interesting. Were they, like, organized, with meetings and stuff?”

“Probably not, but it’s not like I checked. There was probably a forum or something, though. At any rate, the Oowadas managed to get ‘em all in one place for long enough to auction off a date with me to raise funds for the Diamonds. Not that they asked me, of course.”

Taichi nodded. He wasn’t typing away at his computer, but he looked like he was listening nonetheless. New, but not unwelcome. Takemichi continued.

“Daiya ‘n Mondo got me dressed up all nice in some of Mondo’s old formal wear and dropped me off at this diner we used to hit up sometimes. It wasn’t until we got there that they told me what was goin’ on, said they’d pick me up in an hour, then sped off like a bunch’a assholes. I was pissed.”

Honestly, he wasn’t that angry, but he probably should have been. He was still buzzing from the Oowadas fussing over his appearance all afternoon. He wasn’t used to that kind of attention- he had just met the Oowadas a few months before, after all.

They got him used to it after a while. He smiled.

“The girl was pretty clearly nervous- I would be, too, I guess. I tried to hold a conversation, goof around with her, but she wasn’t really havin’ it. It kinda sucked- I knew I wouldn’t be goin’ out with her again, but I was hopin’ we could at least be pals. We ate, I paid, she left.”

He remembered sitting in the booth, polishing off his milkshake, and staring around the otherwise-empty diner, silent except for the quiet music playing over the speakers, lamenting that even though she was, objectively, a sweet girl, he’d never be able to give her what she expected.

“The Oowadas showed up and piled into the booth with me. They were a lot easier to talk to, of course. They goofed off a little with me before we left, so the night wasn’t a total loss.”

Didn’t help the crush he had on Mondo, either, that was for damn sure. That was not the first time he realized that Mondo had a really nice laugh, and it certainly wasn’t the last.

Takemichi stretched. “Sorry. I’m supposed to be talkin’ about Daiya, huh?”

“No, it’s okay,” Taichi said, shaking his head. “It’s good to practice opening up. Besides, we’re friends, aren’t we? I like learning about you.”

“Yeah, I like to think so,” he smiled. They had bonded quite a bit over the past few weeks, hadn’t they? Plus, he had already been over to he and Takaaki’s place to spend time with them and the Hagakures a few times since their short time in the simulation.

Making friends, having a family, all of it had been hard since the world ended. He was endlessly grateful for the people he had.

“We should probably get to it, though, huh?” he said, doing his best to wipe the dreamy smile off of his face.

Taichi nodded and turned to his computer. “Right. Whenever you’re ready.”

* * *

Takemichi paced his small kitchen, stirring the pot of soup on the stove every half-minute. He was trying to burn off some of his nervous energy before Kenshiro arrived- which wouldn’t be for another hour, of course, but still.

Takaaki ambled out of his room, keys in hand. “You’re pacing,” he said, leaning against the countertop.

“I noticed,” Takemichi huffed, stopping to shake out his sweaty, trembling hands and stir the soup again.

“You don’t need to be nervous.”

Takemichi sighed softly. Takaaki’s attempts to comfort him sometimes missed the mark, but they were always appreciated. “Thanks,” he smiled. “I know. I just… want him to like me, yknow?”

“He already likes you,” Takaaki reminded him.

Takemichi frowned. “Well, yeah, I know that. But it’s like… I dunno. You were pretty damn nervous when you started dating Roko, and she’s liked you just fine for a while.”

“I suppose that’s fair,” Takaaki mumbled. “But you’re different.”

“If you say something shitty about yourself, I’ll deck you.”

Takaaki frowned, but didn’t say anything else.

Takemichi rolled his eyes, smiling softly. “Go spend time with your lady. I’ll call you once Kenshiro leaves.”

Takaaki nodded once. “Have fun,” he said, then turned to leave.

“Will do.” With that, he returned his attention to the boiling pot on the stove.

It was another 45 minutes of pacing, stirring the now-fully cooked stew, tidying the already cleaned dining area, sweating, and applying and reapplying deodorant. He nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard the knock on the door.

“Good evening,” Kenshiro greeted, holding out a bag of tortilla chips. “I, uh, was going to bring wine, but remembered you didn’t drink, and didn’t really have a backup.”

Takemichi smiled, hoping it didn’t look as nervous as he felt. “You didn’t have to bring nothin’. It’s cool. I, uh, appreciate the gesture.”

“Ah. I- I can take them back home and drop them off?” Kenshiro suggested, flushing lightly.

“No! No, it’s fine, don’t worry about it. It’s cute,” he added, before he could stop himself. If he could sweat harder, he’s sure he would.

Kenshiro, after his initial look of surprise, smiled and rubbed at the back of his neck. “Alright,” he mumbled. “Whatever you want is fine by me.” 

They stood there for a long moment until the fog cleared from Takemichi’s head enough for him to realize he should probably invite the other man inside. “Uh, c’mon in,” he said, stepping to the side and holding the door open. Kenshiro had to duck under the doorframe, and Takemichi smiled, the edge of his nervous energy fading.

Without thinking, he pulled one of the chairs out, gesturing for Kenshiro to sit. Kenshiro grinned, chuckling a little.

“You’re a gentleman,” he said as he sat. Takemichi laughed.

(Really, it was more of a giggle, but it’d be a cold day in hell before he even thought of admitting that.)

“The soup should be cool enough to eat,” he said over his shoulder as he walked to the kitchen to serve them their bowls.

The cabinet was full of hand-made dishes, and Takemichi smiled fondly. When she wasn’t working or drawing, Fujiko had taken up making pottery and giving it to her friends and coworkers. Anything lopsided or lumpy went to Takemichi- he would never let her throw them out.

Smiling softly, he pulled two bowls with similar enough colors off of the shelf and ladled soup into them. They were a bit shallow, being some of Fujiko’s first projects, so there wasn’t room for much.

Takemichi smiled as he set the bowls down and took his seat, but when he looked up, Kenshiro was frowning slightly at the soup.

“You alright?” Takemichi asked, concerned. It wasn’t gourmet, sure, but it was pretty good. He was working with what the Future Foundation could spare.

Kenshiro looked startled, then smiled nervously. “Ah, apologies, I didn’t mean to pull a face. I can’t eat red meat, with my condition and all. It’s unfortunate- I used to love it.”

_ Oh, fuck.  _ Takemichi didn’t even think to ask about dietary restrictions- clearly, he should have. ”Shit, sorry. I think we have some leftovers in the fridge, I can-”

Kenshiro grabbed Takemichi’s wrist as he moved to stand, causing the latter half of his sentence to die in his throat. He was grinning softly at him.

“It’s alright. I came here to spend time with you- the food was just something extra. Not that I don’t appreciate it, of course, but it wasn’t the most appealing part.”

Takemichi could feel himself turning a deep shade of red. He tried to form words in his mind, but each letter turned into a flustered spark of delight. He settled on just sitting back down with a small “okay”.

Kenshiro moved his hand from Takemichi’s wrist and he had to stop himself from reaching out to hold it. He imagined lacing their fingers together, tracing over the lines in calloused skin. He bit the inside of his cheek and looked away.

“So, how’s work been?” Takemichi asked, not sure what else to say. That made Kenshiro smile- as most things did, Takemichi supposed.

It really was quite a nice smile. Takemichi was glad he got to see it so often.

* * *

As he sat down in his usual spot in front of Taichi, Takemichi did his best to stay in the moment. His mind kept wandering, which was fine for when he was biking around the city, but a problem when he needed to focus.

It was hard to focus on memories right now. Every time he thought of Daiya, he was imagining how happy he’d be for him. He’d pick him up, give him a noogie, make fun of him in the loving way he always did.

Takemichi always imagined that, if he got the chance to get married, he’d like Daiya to stand in as his father. He never imagined how he’d bring it up to him- part of him hoped Daiya would just know, somehow- but he always imagined him grinning down at him, giving him away.

“-ichi? Takemichi, are you there?” Takemichi blinked at Taichi, who looked concerned, and smiled embarrassedly.

“Sorry. I’m not all here today, I guess. Whadja say?”

“The AI is close to being done. I wanted to thank you,” Taichi said, his nervous expression replaced with a wide grin.

“Aw, fuck yeah!” He was beaming. “When’s he gonna be done?”

“Shouldn’t be more than a week or two now. I think it’s only right that you be the first to talk to him, if you feel up to it.”

“Course I do.” He had already faced down the behemoth that was Mondo. Daiya couldn’t be too much more difficult.

Taichi nodded at that, still grinning. “Right. I’ll let you know, then, and you’ll be able to take the day off.”

Takemichi nodded, and Taichi dismissed him. This hadn’t taken near as much time as Takemichi had expected, so he decided to take another ride before lunch. After, he’d probably see if he could catch Kenshiro to chat for a bit.

If no one saw the dumb grin on his face as he walked to his bike, then it didn’t happen.

The following week and a half seemed to both crawl by and happen too fast. Before he knew it, he was sitting on the edge of the same bed he had been on when he last saw Mondo, listening to Taichi remind him of the dangers of the simulation.

“-And, of course, this isn’t going to be the real Daiya. Just a very convincing fake- I hope, at least. If we got anything wrong, let us know,” Taichi said, finishing his typing with a flourish and then turning to face Takemichi. “Just let the AI know when you want to leave, and we’ll get you out of there.”

“Gotcha,” Takemichi responded for what must have been the twentieth time in 10 minutes. He had been psyching himself up for this all day- since Taichi had first proposed the idea to him, if he was being honest. This time there was no weight to carry, nothing to get off of his chest- it was just a visit with the long-dead man that he knew loved him like a brother, a son. He was  _ excited _ .

“Alright. If you have no further questions, we can begin.”

Takemichi nodded, then laid back and waited for Taichi to plug him in, counting down from 100. When he opened his eyes, he was in that darkness again, facing another metal door. This one had a nameplate, too, but it was different than Mondo’s. That made sense, Takemichi supposed. After all, Daiya was never a student at Hope’s Peak.

He wondered what his door would look like after he was gone. If anyone cared to program him in, that is.

Taking a deep breath, he opened the door.

There was a desk along one one wall, covered in various pens and papers, tall filing cabinets framing either side. On the other end of the room was a large set of monitors and a control panel- presumably to watch over the other AIs, but they were all off right now, so Takemichi couldn’t be sure. In the center of the room, there were sofas set around a coffee table.

The wall at the far end of the room was completely floor-to-ceiling windows, showing off the sun that was just starting its descent in the sky, reflecting onto the sparkling ocean. Takemichi could even hear the faint sound of the waves lapping at the floor. There, staring at the waves, stood Daiya. Takemichi closed the door behind himself and walked to join him.

When Daiya spotted him, he smiled warmly and pulled him into a hug. Just like that, Takemichi felt small again- like he was once again the broken teenager crying into his t-shirt after his foster parents chased him out of the house, or nervously sharing his poetry, or quietly swearing he’d do everything in his power to try and protect the brothers who saved his life.

Daiya ruffled his hair as he pulled away and Takemichi sniffled. He was crying, he realized, and wiped at his eyes.

“Sorry,” he apologized, his laugh sounding watery. “Didn’t think I’d cry. Guess I got soft in my old age, huh?”

“Don’t worry about it, kid. Going soft ain’t the end of the world,” Daiya said, grinning down at Takemichi. “Siddown. I wanna know how you’re doin’.”

The couches were comfortable, less broken and lumpy than the one he had at home, far better than the one currently sitting in the Oowada home, which somehow got shards of glass in the cushions while Takemichi was in Towa.

Daiya sat next to him, putting his feet up on Takemichi’s lap. Takemichi swatted at his ankle, chuckling softly, but didn’t push him away.

“So how’re things in the real world?” Daiya asked, stretching his arms above his head before lacing his fingers together behind his neck.

“It’s hell, man. You missed the apocalypse by just a few years.” He paused for a bit, staring at the ceiling, which was covered in elaborate, shining tile. “But… I’m happy, I think. I got a huge family now, with all of Mondo’s friend’s folks.”

He sighed, closing his eyes for a moment, thinking about them. Fujiko’s eyes lighting up when he managed to find an old DVD of an anime she liked, Ayaka singing while he played a slightly banged-up guitar, Takaaki nervously asking for advice on what to wear for his first date with Hiroko, Taichi making terrible puns when he came over for dinner that made Takemichi laugh despite his best efforts…

“We didn’t meet under the best circumstances, and we all miss our people every day, but we all care about each other so fuckin’ much. And it’s nice. I… didn’t think I’d ever have that again, after you ‘n Mondo died.”

When he opened his eyes, Daiya was grinning at him. “I’m proud of you, buddy. You really made a future for yourself outta nothin’, huh?”

And Takemichi was crying again. Daiya sat up and hugged him again, rubbing his back.

“I never thought I’d be able to tell you, but I thought you would be. God, I hoped you would be. I jus’ wanted to make you proud,” he stammered out, punctuated by a hiccup.

“That’s not something you hafta work at,” Daiya mumbled into his hair. “You’ve always made me proud.”

They didn’t say anything else for a good wile, just sat in a comfortable silence broken only by Takemichi’s quiet sniffles.

“I should go,” he said after what felt like too long and not long enough. He didn’t want to. He wanted to stay here forever, but he had people in the real world to get back to, a home to keep tidy, a job to do.

Other people to make proud.

Daiya nodded, ruffled Takemichi’s hair one more time, and stood up. Takemichi did the same, grinning softly, wiping his eyes with his sleeve.

“Good seeing you, kid,” Daiya said, opening the door. “I’m glad you’re doin’ good. Come back and visit sometime, ok? I love Mondo to death, but I think I’d go crazy if he was the only person I had to talk to.”

“‘Course. I’ll see you later,” he said with a grin. Daiya gave him one more tight hug and he walked out the door, hearing the click behind him.

* * *

Takemichi sat up carefully, hearing his back pop. He had been out for much longer this time.

Taichi rushed over to him, fussing over the wires and firing off questions at lightning speed. They all went in one ear and out the other.

“...Maybe the questions can wait,” Taichi said apologetically once he caught Takemichi’s far off look. “Takaaki’s going to be here shortly to take you home. Are you feeling alright?”

“...Yeah,” Takemichi said, smiling tiredly. “I think you got him just about perfect."

**Author's Note:**

> this took a WHILE but boy am i proud of it. daiya cared about takemichi so much guys im right about this and you arent even exploring the POTENTIAL  
> this entire series is dedicated to remy and trekkie, who have had to sit through me talking their ears off about my ideas for this fic ever since i finished dreamland. i dont deserve them


End file.
